Nothing Else Matters if Your Setup Isn't Perfect!

This post is intended for the better player who struggles with consistency!

​If you're reading this article right now. You should feel very lucky. I'm inspired to write this post because of something I keep coming back to in a lot of my lessons.  These past few years I've been lucky to make a huge impact on a lot of my students' golf games. However, the more I seem to get better at teaching, the more I seem to notice the importance of this almost looked over aspect of the golf swing: SETUP! SETUP! SETUP!

What I am trying to say is that one of the biggest reasons why golfer's can't be consistent is because they have one or more aspects of their setup wrong. I don't care what type of motion your are working on in your swing, If you don't get the setup right you are not going to be consistent at this game!  Mark my words, bookmark this page! You will always wonder what exactly I am talking about when all your swing fixes are only short lived and you keep getting frustrated!  I am telling you, it's your setup.  

Most people do not understand the intricate detail that goes into the setup.  You can watch videos on, read books, even get a great golf lesson. However, there's a certain feel and different parts of the body that need to be engaged at the start of the swing.  I wrote in a post earlier about the lead arm and its relationship to the grip and torso, but I have since improved on how to perfect the setup even more. 

I know what you're thinking "The setup can't be that hard." I'm pretty sure I got it." Everybody thinks they have the correct setup and everybody thinks it's easy to do. I would say that only 1 out of every 10 of my students have the setup correct!  It is a lot harder than you think! But easy if you're already getting into the positions. 

Tip:  This concept of setup includes how your grip, wrists, arms and elbows support the club. It is very difficult for me to describe these motions in words, and not even video can do justice. But here's something you can try:

Act like you're ready to bump a volleyball and take the volleyball grip with your trail hand under you lead hand. Take your lead hand and flip in palm down and take your golf grip. Notice how you now have a miniature golf grip.  Grab a golf club and place it in you hands with this feel. Using only the last three fingers of your lead hand and middle two of your trail hand as pressure points, lower the club to the golf ball.  Make sure that the club feels like it's slightly open at address. when you swing back you should notice that there is a lot more control of the club going back and through.

Remember this tip is for the better player.